Ubuntu Studio 16.10, a brand new version from the project developing a Linux distribution targeted at musicians, video producers, graphics artists and publishers, has been released: "We are happy to announce the release of our latest version, Ubuntu Studio 16.10 'Yakkety Yak'. As a regular version, it will be supported for 9 months. Since it's just out, you may experience some issues, so you might want to wait a bit before upgrading. Changes in this release: new default Numix Blue theme; added DGEdit and DrumGizmo; replaced recordMyDesktop with vokoscreen; replaced GNOME Color Manager with dispcalGUI; added Gpick; added Calibre, PDF-Shuffler and Plume Creator; Krita has been temporarily removed from Yakkety Yak 16.10 due to build issues, but should be brought back as an updated version soon, and be installed automatically when upgrading your packages." See the release announcement and release notes for further information and a list of known issues. Download: ubuntustudio-16.10-dvd-amd64.iso (2,720MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist). Also available from OSDisc.

The Ubuntu Studio project has announced the launch of Ubuntu Studio 16.04, a long term support release which will be supported for three years. The project had another change to talk about as well: "In January 2016 we had an election for a new project lead, and the winner was Set Hallström, who will be taking over the project lead position right after this release. He will be continuing for another two years until the next election in 2018. The team of developers has also seen a positive increase lately, which bodes well for the future. So, all in all, this release marks a new page in the history of Ubuntu Studio and makes the distribution as strong as it has ever been. 16.04 Xenial Xerus Released! We're happy to announce our latest LTS release. Ubuntu Studio 16.04 will be supported for three years. Since it's just out, you may experience some problems." The new features in this release and a list of potential problems can be found in the release notes. Further details can be found in the release announcement. Download: ubuntustudio-16.04-dvd-amd64.iso (2,624MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist). Also available from OSDisc.

Kaj Ailomaa has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 15.10, the latest version of the official Ubuntu subproject designed for graphics, audio and media enthusiasts: "Ubuntu Studio 15.10 'Wily Werewolf' has been released. Wily Werewolf will be supported only for 9 months. Changes for this release: the categorization in the menu has changed - still work in progress, but we have gone from 5 main categories down to 3 (audio, graphics and video); the ubuntustudio-controls application is now functional and able to administer real-time privileges for users; Ubuntu has followed Debian in moving from libav back to FFmpeg; as usual, many applications have been updated; special notice for ardour - the package is called ardour3, but the application itself is actually version 4." Here are the links to the brief release announcement and release notes. The live DVD image comes with the Xfce desktop and is available for download from one of the Ubuntu servers: ubuntustudio-15.10-dvd-amd64.iso (2,361MB, SHA256, torrent, pkglist).

The development team behind Ubuntu Studio has announced the availability of Ubuntu Studio 15.04. The new release ships with the Xfce 4.12 desktop environment and a new meta package which draws in all required dependencies for a multimedia workstation. "Another short term release is out. Not much is new, but some of the most obvious changes are: new meta package: ubuntustudio-audio-core (includes all the core stuff for an audio oriented installation); Xfce 4.12." Further information can be found in the project's release notes. A list of hardware requirements can be found on the distribution's download page. "The minimum RAM memory requirement for Ubuntu Studio is 512 MB. It is highly recommended that you have 2 GB, or more, as some applications use up a lot of RAM. You will also need at least 10 GB of hard disk space." Download: ubuntustudio-15.04-dvd-amd64.iso (2,283MB, SHA256, torrent, pkglist).

Kaj Ailomaa has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 14.04, a customised variant of Ubuntu with a range of multimedia and content creation programs for audio, graphics, video, photography and publishing: "We're happy to announce our latest LTS release. Ubuntu Studio 14.04 will be supported for three years. Since it's just out, you may experience some problems. Read about them under known issues. Short list of new features: the installer has a new plugin which allows you to choose which packages to install out of our workflows - audio, video, graphics, photography and publishing, so you no longer need to install all the packages; Linux low-latency code is now merged with Linux generic, so it's better streamlined and follows all Linux generic changes more exactly; EFI support." Read the full release announcement for a rather long list of known issues and suggested solutions. Download link: ubuntustudio-14.04-dvd-amd64.iso (2,552MB, SHA256, torrent). Also available from OSDisc.

Howard Chan has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 13.10, an Ubuntu sub-project providing a full range of multimedia content creation applications for audio, graphics, video, photography and publishing: "The Ubuntu Studio team proudly announces the immediate release of Ubuntu Studio 13.10. This exciting release incorporates the new features listed below: a new menu structure which works on any desktop environment; a new package named ubuntustudio-installer, which allows any person to install our metapackages and can fit into any desktop environment; instead of a settings menu, we have fitted in a new Settings Manager, with all settings in one place; when you are in the GRUB menu, the boot item for Ubuntu Studio will show 'Ubuntu Studio' instead of 'Ubuntu'; the latest low-latency kernel will be always the default boot item in the GRUB boot loader; the Xfce session in the LightDM is removed to avoid any confusion with the Ubuntu Studio session...." Continue to the release announcement and release notes to learn more. Download: ubuntustudio-13.10-dvd-amd64.iso (2,464MB, SHA256, torrent).

Kaj Ailomaa has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 13.04, a specialist distribution dedicated to media creation and featuring a large collection of multimedia software: "A new release of Ubuntu Studio is out. This release marks a turning point as it will only be supported for 9 months. For the past two releases, we've been experiencing some bugs with both Jack and PulseAudio. Since 13.04 includes newer releases of Jack and PulseAudio, the bugs are no longer present. And while Jack has been fixed in all releases recently, PulseAudio is still causing problems in 12.04 and 12.10, but the fix is under way. For this release, the menu has seen some polishing, including new icons and a slightly improved disposition. The organization of the menu is something that goes beyond the Xfce menu and will benefit any distro in the long run." Read the full release announcement for further details. Download: ubuntustudio-13.04-dvd-amd64.iso (801MB, SHA256, torrent).

Ubuntu Studio 12.10, a new version of the official Ubuntu variant compiled to give sound, video and graphics artists a free computing platform on which to unleash their creativity, is out and ready for download: "Ubuntu Studio is the Ubuntu flavour designed for content creation. Improved interface: a new web page, the help button on the main menu points there; Task Manager has been switched to System Monitor for better memory use display; a main menu tool has been added to setting to allow the user to change their menu; add/fix text Plymouth theme; set up Software Centre menu items for our workflows; fixed submenu icons for accessories, education and network. New software include: Xfce updated to version 4.10; Linux kernel (low latency) is now version 3.5." See the complete release notes for more details. Download (SHA256): ubuntustudio-12.10-dvd-i386.iso (2,130MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-12.10-dvd-amd64.iso (2,165MB, torrent).

Ubuntu Studio 12.04, the latest release from a project providing a large collection of audio, video and graphics software in one compact package, is ready: "Ubuntu Studio is the Ubuntu flavour designed for content creation. It's produced as a DVD image that can also be converted to an USB stick and includes support for most languages by default. Ubuntu Studio 12.04 LTS is a 3 year long-term support release and will be supported until April 2015. New features include: live DVD; GUI-based installation; low-latency kernel installed by default; i386 images use the low-latency PAE kernel; Xfce as the default desktop environment; Pulse Audio with JACK bridging enabled by default; new theme, icons and default font...." Read the detailed release notes for more information. Download (SHA256): ubuntustudio-12.04-dvd-i386.iso (1,904MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-12.04-dvd-amd64.iso (1,971MB, torrent).
Also available from OSDisc.

Ubuntu Studio 11.10, an Ubuntu variant tailored to audio, video and graphics enthusiasts, has been released - now defaulting to the Xfce desktop instead of GNOME: "Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia editing/creation flavor of Ubuntu, built for the GNU/Linux audio, video, and graphics enthusiast or professional. The Ubuntu Studio team is very excited over its tenth release: Oneiric Ocelot 11.10, Unfortunately, the Ubuntu Studio suffered an almost complete team fail during this cycle. This can be general categorized into two main reasons: normal, expected attrition experienced during most cycles and unforeseen circumstances that required team members to be absent. We apologize for any deficiencies in this release. But you can always help us make the next one better." The release notes explain the situation in more detail. Download (SHA256): ubuntustudio-11.10-alternate-i386.iso (1,830MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-11.10-alternate-amd64.iso (1,918MB, torrent).

Scott Lavender has announced the release of Ubuntu Studio 11.04, a specialist Ubuntu variant featuring a large collection of packages for multimedia tasks: "The Ubuntu Studio team is very excited over its ninth release: 11.04 'Natty Narwhal', available as a 1.5 GB DVD ISO image. Numerous improvements have been implemented for this release, but here are some of the more notable ones. The task selections during installation have been updated; the audio tasks have been parsed into two groups: generation and recording. The 'generation' task selection is focused more on synthesizers and sequencers and the 'recording' task focuses on recording live musician performances. Currently, Ubuntu Studio is shipping the -generic kernel; we are working with the Ubuntu kernel team to get a -lowlatency kernel into the archives." Here are the full release notes. Download (SHA256): ubuntustudio-11.04-alternate-i386.iso (1,488MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-11.04-alternate-amd64.iso (1,558MB, torrent).

Ubuntu Studio 10.04, an official Ubuntu sub-project with a real-time kernel option designed for creative media specialists, has been released: "Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia editing/creation flavor of Ubuntu, built for the GNU/Linux audio, video, and graphics enthusiast or professional. The Ubuntu Studio team is very excited over its seventh release: 'Lucid Lynx' 10.04, available as a 1.3 GB DVD image. Numerous improvements have been implemented for this release, but here are some of the more notables. Upgraded applications: Aeolus 0.8.2, Ardour 2.8.6, Audacity 1.3.11, Hydrogen 0.9.4, Blender 2.49b, Kino 1.3.4. New applications: Rakarrack 0.3.0, MuseScore 0.9.6, SubtitleEditor 0.30.0. Kernels: generic kernel will be installed as default; low-latency kernel is also available in Abogani's PPA; real-time kernel will be available in Ubuntu Studio PPA. Pulse Audio built against Jack is available." Read the full release notes for further information. Download (SHA256): ubuntustudio-10.04-alternate-i386.iso (1,705MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-10.04-alternate-amd64.iso (1,779MB, torrent).

Ubuntu Studio 8.10, a multimedia-oriented Ubuntu derivative, has been released: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its fourth release: Ubuntu Studio 8.10. With this release, Ubuntu Studio offers a pre-made selection of packages, targeted at audio, video and graphics users. Ubuntu Studio greatly simplifies the creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations. For Ubuntu Studio 8.10 we have continued to update packages and fix critical bugs to improve the Ubuntu Studio user experience. We are sad to announce the real-time kernel won't be installed by default in Ubuntu Studio in this release. This means that for the time being, we recommend our users that depend on the real-time kernel to stay with 8.04. Features: new Ardour version; Audacity fully working; update of all software packages." Here is the full release announcement. Download (MD5): ubuntustudio-8.10-alternate-i386.iso (1,229MB, torrent), ubuntustudio-8.10-alternate-amd64.iso (1,246MB, torrent).

Ubuntu Studio 7.10, a distribution dedicated to editing and creating multimedia work, has been released: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its sophomore release: Ubuntu Studio 7.10. With this release Ubuntu Studio offers a pre-made selection of packages, targeted at audio, video and graphics users. Ubuntu Studio greatly simplifies the creation of Linux-based multimedia workstations. Quite possibly the most requested feature for Ubuntu Studio 7.10 has been delivered, full 64-bit support. In addition, the Ubuntu Studio team has endeavored to include all of our packages in the standard Ubuntu repositories. Also, a customized Audio/Visual menu has been developed for this release. With Ubuntu Studio 7.10, the real-time (RT) kernel is shipped by default." Read the rest of the release notes for further information. Download (MD5): ubuntustudio-7.10-alternate-i386.iso (801MB, ubuntustudio-7.10-alternate-amd64.iso (812MB).

The long-awaited Ubuntu Studio 7.04, a variant of Ubuntu aimed at the GNU/Linux audio, video and graphic enthusiast, has arrived: "The Ubuntu Studio team is proud to announce its first release: 7.04 for Intel i386-compatible processors. With this release, which you can download for DVD in little over 860 MB, we offer a feature that is somewhat reminiscent of Ubuntu Server: on installation, you can choose between the Audio, Graphics or Video tasks; and choose also to install a number of plugins, which for this release is mainly aimed at audio production. We have endeavoured to keep as many of our packages in the standard Ubuntu repositories as possible." Read the rest of the release announcement and visit the project's home page to learn more about Ubuntu Studio. Download: ubuntustudio-7.04-alternate-i386.iso (868MB, MD5); also available via BitTorrent.

3CX Phone System is a specialist, Debian-based Linux distribution designed to run a complete unified communications platform. The 3CX client, included in the distribution, can also be installed separately on most hardware as well as the cloud. It provides a complete open standards-based IP PBX and phone system that works with popular SIP trunks and IP phones. It will automatically configure all supported peripherals and it also comes with clients for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. The ISO image includes a free license for the 3CX PBX edition. The ISO images contains the standard Debian installer which installs a minimal system with the nginx web server, PostgreSQL database, iptables firewall and Secure Shell. Options not relevant to 3CX have been removed form the distribution. Download the installation ISO image from here: debian-8.6.0-amd64-netinst-3cx.iso (246MB).

For complete privacy and anonymity on your desktop computers and mobile devices, use a personal VPN from Private Internet Access, the award-winning, no logs VPN service named PC Mag.com Editors' Choice.